Jo Walton’s tale of a 15-year-old Welsh girl whose imagination is animated by fairies, haunted by her dead twin, and nourished by her prodigious reading of fantasy and science fiction novels is the most surprising, compelling, and life-enhancing novel I’ve read in five years. Even though I am unfamiliar with the science fiction canon the young narrator traverses in these pages, I’ve found her voice bewitching, her passionate affirmation of reading entrancing, and her character wholly unforgettable.